Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar

124 SMITHSONIAN AT THE POLES / LORING
( Loring, 1998; Loring and Rosenmeier, 2005). These programs
have sought to develop archaeological fi eld-schools
that would provide Native youth with opportunities to experience
life in the country, acquire new job skills, and foster
self-esteem and pride in oneself and one’s heritage. This
type of enterprise, generally called “community archaeology,”
especially as it is practiced in the north, is rooted
in applied socially conscious advocacy anthropology. In
addition to addressing the special scholarly questions that
archaeologists commonly pose, community archaeology
seeks additional goals that strive to empower and engage
communities in the recognition and construction of their
own heritage. In the north in general, and in Labrador
specifi cally, community archaeology initiatives celebrate
traditional values and share a research focus and practice
that is responsible for creating and returning knowledge
to communities (Lyons, 2007; Nicholas, 2006; Nicholas
and Andrews, 1997), in a sense coming full circle since the
years of the fi rst IPY.
Perhaps the most important facet of community archaeology
as practiced in Labrador is that it is situated
outside the settlements, in the country where the knowledge,
wisdom, and experience of elders is relevant and apparent
(Figures 9 and 10). Fieldwork based on mutual respect
and sharing among families, generations, and visiting
researchers honors and encourages indigenous knowledge
and different ways of knowing. The practice of community
archaeology with the Innu in Nitassinan is culturally
FIGURE 9. No longer the exclusive domain of professional researchers, archaeology in the north has become a cooperative initiative between
local community interests and visiting researchers. Here, community activist and former Innu Nation president Daniel Ashini, left, accompanied
by Dominique Pokue, survey the ruined shorelines of former Lake Michikamats during an Innu Nation– sponsored archaeological survey of the
region in 1995. (S. Loring photograph)